: The Forest Department, in a joint operation by its various wings , arrested eight persons at Palode on Friday on the charge of keeping a sand boa, a non-venomous snake protected under the Wildlife Protection Act. Two cars used by the accused were confiscated.
The Indian sand boa, weighing 3.5 kg, was being taken by the gang, suspected to have inter-State links, to sell it to prospective buyers. The gang was intercepted by the Forest officials at Karikuzhi, Panavoor, 7 km from Palode, on the basis of a tip-off by the Forest Intelligence Cell. This is the fourth sand boa that has been seized in the past two months by the Flying Squad Division, Thiruvananthapuram, after the Forest Department stepped up vigil following the theft of four red sand boas from the Snake Park at Olavacode, allegedly with the connivance of forest watchers. The other three seizures were from Venjaramood, Poovar and Pathanapuram.
The officials were tracking the gang since Thursday and efforts to trap them at Adoor had failed. The sand boa is leant to have been brought from Palakkad-Tamil Nadu border area for sale. Merlin, a suspended police official from Tamil Nadu, who was part of the gang, gave the officials the slip.
Those arrested were K. N. Ramakrishnan of Maramon in Pathanamthitta, Shajahan of Attupuram, Moideen of Peringamala, Ilias of Panavoor, Rajendran of Chengannur, Faizal of Adoor, Biju of Aranmula and Shanavas of Pattazhi. The joint operation was carried out by a team led by ACF, Forest Intelligence Cell, B. Santosh Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer, Flying Squad, Thiruvananthapuram, J. R. Ani and Forest Range Officer, Palode, Vinod S.V.
Red Sand Boa is a nocturnal species and spends most of its time as burrower. The snakes are found in the dry climatic regions of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the South and are brought to the State from adjoining Tamil Nadu.
Forest officials say many buy the snake for a huge sum of money under the impression that it contains medicinal values and some others believe that keeping the snake would bring good luck. The species did not possess any special quality as hyped by traders. In the majority of cases, the people are duped as the actual trade does not take place, they said.
Investigations were conducted on the basis of tip-off
Inter-State links of gang being probed
